Although I’ve been asked not to recap last night’s toastmaster happy hour (wink), allow me to sum up the stellar evaluations contest we had last week!!!

The thrill of an icebreaker! The agony of the icebreaker being evaluated FOUR times! Brian “the ringer” Monroe, visiting from Austin Toastmasters, threw the evaluators for a loop with his hilarious near-Darwin Award stories. All the evaluators had different styles, but still agreed: Brian’s a natural! Patrick empathized while Corky proselytized, trying to convert Brian to his Italian brand of speaking. Amy enthusiastically encouraged Brian, and then finally Rey succinctly summarized his successful speaking debut!!! They ALL deserve two thumbs WAY up! But like the highlander, there can be only one….

…drum roll please…

3rd place went to Patrick Reznik!!
2nd place went to Amy Samet!!
1st place in Capital City’s Fall 2008 Evaluations Contest went to REYNETTA DEVEAU!!!

Congratulations and thank you to all who participated in the contest! Especially our toastmaster Keith, who warmed up the crowd, and then turned the heat up, cracking us up all the way to the end. Who else would ask the evaluation contestants what the other contestants could have done better?!!

Thanks again to all our judges for making this an official and unbiased contest!

See you all for the Tall Tales Contest next week!!!

We were blasted with millions of tips and tricks, but I wanted to share just a couple with everyone:

• Three-C Evaluation method – Compliment, Critique, Challenge.   I like this method because it encourages the evaluator to think beyond the current speech, and to how the speaker can improve in future speeches (the challenge).  Avoid whitewashing at all costs – there’s always something that can be improved (even for Albert).  Just another option to add to the ‘compliment sandwich’, and Amy’s famous “3 things ya like, 3 areas to improve” approaches.
• Speech topics - to always have one ready:
  • Create a mind map of possible topics starting with any word
  • Brainstorm several ideas ahead of time so when the time comes, you can pick one

I also got lots of advice and info for running club contests so if you want to get involved in the next club contest coming up soon, to be chairman or just help out, email me or catch me at the meeting next week (July 23rd)!

Maureen generously handed out table topics… and Jason, David, Taline & Maria got all wrapped up in themselves in their self-centered stories.

Eric was wayyy off topic in his speech, which was focused on selfLESSness, and doing things for OTHER people. Pshh, what’s that all about?
Stuart got it right, though, in his speech wherein he touted himself as doctor of grammar, and schooled us in the ways of who vs whom, proper use of this, and other things that didn’t go over well with the audience who pummeled him in the Q&A session afterwards.

Thanks once again to Corky for stepping in at the last minute to evaluate Eric’s speech.

The spoiled winners are:

Best Table Topic: Jason??  I dont remember for sure but dangit they were all good!
Best Speaker: Stuart
Best Evaluator: Amy/Corky split!
Best use of Humor: Stuart
Most Enthusiasm: Me!

Today’s meeting was overloaded with special guests, special speeches, special events, and especially good PIZZA thanks to Rey! Toastmaster Stuart Cooked up a storm today, throwing all kinds of pizza lingo at us, and even managed to say the chuckle that Albert planned to serve up later. (It was OK – do you really think Albert would be left without something to say??).

As usual, Patrick came up with some tasty table toppings, really in-depth and philosophical questions like “when is the best time to eat leftover pizza?”, for me, Brendan, Keith and Stephen to chew on. Brendan and Keith were both hilarious despite their handicaps, one mental the other physical, while newcomer Stephen owned his table topic question “Why is pizza so much better in a box?” with a saucy and creative explanation, delving into the ‘essence’ of pizza. Bravo!

Maria was dressed to kill today for her speech on the job interviewing process, after what she told us, maybe she was actually dressed to KILL that guy who didn’t give her the job she was after.

CONGRATULATIONS to Wendy, who gave her 10th fabulous speech today, simultaneously finished her CC manual, AND fulfilled the last requirement for our club to become a Presiden’ts Distinguished club, yay!!!! Not only that, but Wendy is also one of the new officers who were inducted to the club today. She’ll be the new VP Membership, taking over Drew’s old position.

Grace Jennings presided over the officer induction with great ease and ..what’s the word?.. style. Steve Lockwood was there to give us a swanky award for being awesome. See? Told ya it was a special meeting!

The new officers are:

Louis Burns, President!
Rey DeVeau, VP Education
Jenny Brookover, VP Public Relations
Wendy Fisher, VP Membership
Jason Callender, Treasurer
Taline Manassian, Secretary
Lora Schneider, Sergeant at Arms

And this week’s ribbon winners are:

Best Table Topping & HUMOR: Brendan
Best Speaker: Maria
Best Evaluator: Louis
Most Enthusiasm: Wendy!!!!!

Wendy spun a beautiful web of table topics, luring each person in with great lead-ins… the first one started off with cockroaches and ended up asking What is a little known fact about you? That threw me for a loop, but I escaped with no harm punned. Albert buzzed on about himself but stayed under time — I’d call that a semimetamorphasisosophy! Louis alluded to some lude insectual behavior he’s witnessed in dragonflies, which is one of the reasons why he’d like to be a dragonfly I guess. Then our newest member Staci Livesay gave her first table topic, in *addition* to providing a fun invocation and chuckle! I didn’t notice a single butterfly in her stomach – she was so calm and smooth telling us the story of her changing from an artistic dance major in college to accounting!!

Taline’s speech was very entertaining, and also only one of three speeches that didn’t get stung by the timer Bee (brendan). Rey used all her extra time to talk about the games, shows and role models our daughters should definitely be avoiding: perfectly suited to her audience of all females at a women’s conference. Last up was another chatterbox, John Schmidt, telling us how easy it is to talk even more and get free cruise vacations out of it.

The meeting was just swarming with talent, the best of which were….

Best Table Topic: Jenny (who stole the ribbon from Louis who I tied with)
Best Speaker: Taline!
Best Evaluator: Stuart
Best Humor: Taline
Most Enthusiasm: John!!!!!!!

Two people were working on the same project today: the third speech in the basic manual. David managed to Get to the Point pretty well although he admitted he barely managed to get to the meeting on time! Louis also “got to the point”, AGAIN, since he is going through the basic manual for a second time! Anyone who hasn’t finished their manual for the FIRST time should be motivated by Louis’s drive.

I already mentioned that Stephen Sharpe joined today, but so did another returning guest: Staci Livesay, who brought an enthusiastic entourage!! Can’t wait to hear your icebreakers!!!

Employees of the Week Awards:

Best Table Topic: Corky
Best Speaker: David
Best Evaluator: Lora
Best Humor & Creative Vote Counting: Corky
Most Enthusiasm: Bert VUNK!!

Louis knocked table topics out of the park with incredibly on-topic yet fun to answer questions. As general evaluator, I forgot to mention that Louis should have warned our guests what table topics was before you got into it… but at least one of the two already knew. Guest Rob who has been a few times before even had the gall to answer one, and then WIN! Maria, Carol, and Maureen also were exceptionally entertaining today on their turns.

Coach Rey “POGO” DeVeau blasted us with energy in her second Successful Club speech, which was the last step to getting her Competent Leader Award!!!!! Woohoo, congrats Rey! And thanks for doing the club a solid. We all learned a lot about about what meeting role players do, and what club officers should be doing. Oh, and I saw Taline pop in at the end of the speech — great to see you Taline, even briefly!

Patrick put on his Albert mask and did an interpretive reading of Langston Hughes’ poem “Let America Be America Again”. Inspiring on many levels.

Keith and Amy also set the precedent that all evaluations must also be hilarious. Good luck to the evaluators next week!

Best Table Topic: Rob, a guest!
Best Speaker & Most Enthusiasm: Rey!!!!!
Best Evaluator: Keith (but he was counting the votes…) so maybe Amy
Best Humor: Keith (again…)

Our meeting this week STARTED with a standing ovation for Stuart’s well-performed invocation.  But Rey was the (really bright neon green) star of the show as Toastmaster.  Or was it Maria, who dramatically acted out scenes from Titanic, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and more to introduce her table topic questions.

Brenda, a previous capital city member, made a special guest appearance during the table topics.  We were all glad to see Corky’s lovely wife at the meeting (especially Corky)!!!

David Jorgensen gave his second speech which started out with Amy’s voice in his head, and ended with his singing voice and guitar in ours.  Bravo!   Then Louis came up and gave his second icebreaker speech!!  Starting the CC manual over again is such a great idea — I just hope he doesn’t lap me before I finish mine!!

Best Table Topic & Humor: Jason “Cuckoo” Callender
Best Speaker: David “Guitar Hero” Jorgensen
Best Evaluator: Jenny “Still evaluatin” Brookover
Most Enthusiasm:  Rey “POGO” DeVeau!!

Bert, Corky and I talked about vacationing in Aruba, driving around a beat-up car and getting senior discounts.  The final hour brought three ladies, Rey, Maureen, and Maria up, all admitting their poor time management skills — but it’s not Rey’s fault… she has DIAL UP!

One and only speaker Wendy is getting closer to her CC award after clocking out speech #9 today – a gentle nudge to get out and volunteer all that time you’re wasting!   And Maria, with only a few moments to prepare, gave her first evaluation, hopefully inspiring other members to take on the challenge soon, too.

The Winners:
Best Table Topic: Maureen
Best Speaker: Wendy
Best Evaluator & Most Enthusiasm: Maria!
Best Humor: Corky
Best Club in the District:  Capital City (according to the area gov Steve Lockwood who visited us today!)

fav color:  Orange

fav cartoon: Beavis and Butthead?!

AND he knew that Bob Denver played Gilligan!  bonus!

Welcome, David!